NOTE: A senolytic (from the words senescence and -lytic, “destroying”) is among a class of small molecules under basic research to determine if they can selectively induce death of senescent cells and improve health in humans.[1] A goal of this research is to discover or develop agents to delay, prevent, alleviate, or reverse age-related diseases.[2][3] A related concept is “senostatic”, which means to suppress senescence. Israeli work can be viewed at: https://aviv-clinics.com/hyperbaric-centers/villages-florida/
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy increases telomere length and decreases immunosenescence in isolated blood cells: a prospective trial
Yafit Hachmo1, * , Amir Hadanny2,3,4, * , Ramzia Abu Hamed1 , Malka Daniel-Kotovsky2 , Merav Catalogna2 , Gregory Fishlev2 , Erez Lang2 , Nir Polak2 , Keren Doenyas2 , Mony Friedman2 , Yonatan Zemel2 , Yair Bechor2 , Shai Efrati1,2,3,5
- 1 Research and Development Unit, Shamir Medical Center, Zerifin, Israel
- 2 The Sagol Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Research, Shamir (Assaf-Harofeh) Medical Center, Zerifin, Israel
- 3 Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
- 4 Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
- 5 Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
* Equal contribution
Received: September 3, 2020 Accepted: October 22, 2020 Published: November 18, 2020
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.202188
How to Cite
Copyright: © 2020 Yafit et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Introduction: Aging is characterized by the progressive loss of physiological capacity. At the cellular level, two key hallmarks of the aging process include telomere length (TL) shortening and cellular senescence. Repeated intermittent hyperoxic exposures, using certain hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) protocols, can induce regenerative effects which normally occur during hypoxia. The aim of the current study was to evaluate whether HBOT affects TL and senescent cell concentrations in a normal, non-pathological, aging adult population.
Methods: Thirty-five healthy independently living adults, aged 64 and older, were enrolled to receive 60 daily HBOT exposures. Whole blood samples were collected at baseline, at the 30th and 60th session, and 1-2 weeks following the last HBOT session. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) telomeres length and senescence were assessed.
Results: Telomeres length of T helper, T cytotoxic, natural killer and B cells increased significantly by over 20% following HBOT. The most significant change was noticed in B cells which increased at the 30th session, 60th session and post HBOT by 25.68%±40.42 (p=0.007), 29.39%±23.39 (p=0.0001) and 37.63%±52.73 (p=0.007), respectively.
There was a significant decrease in the number of senescent T helpers by -37.30%±33.04 post-HBOT (P<0.0001). T-cytotoxic senescent cell percentages decreased significantly by -10.96%±12.59 (p=0.0004) post-HBOT.
In conclusion, the study indicates that HBOT may induce significant senolytic effects including significantly increasing telomere length and clearance of senescent cells in the aging populations.
